

MECHANISM OF THE VOCAL REGISTERS. 497 



the trachea and the larger bronchial tubes. This register is sensibly the same 

 in the male and in the female. 



2. The head-register. In cultivated male voices, a quality is often produced, 

 probably by diminished power of the voice, with some modification in the 

 form and capacity of the resonant cavities, which is recognized as a " head- 

 voice," by those who do not regard the head-register as equivalent to the 

 falsetto. 



3. The falsetto-register. By the use of this register, the male may imitate 

 the' voice of the female. Its quality is different from that of the chest-voice, 

 and the transition from the chest to falsetto usually is abrupt and quite 

 marked. It may be called an unnatural voice in the male; still, by very 

 careful cultivation, the transition may be made almost imperceptibly. The 

 falsetto never has the power and resonance of the full chest-voice. It 

 resembles the head- voice, but every good singer can recognize the fact that 

 he employs a different mechanism in its production. 



Applying an analogous method of analysis to the female voice, the 

 natural registers seems to be the following : 



1. The chest-register. This register is the same in the female as in the 

 male. 



2. The lower medium register, generally called the medium. This is the 

 register commonly used by the female in speaking. 



3. The upper medium register. This is sometimes called the head-regis- 

 ter and is thought by some to be produced by precisely the same mechanism 

 as the falsetto-register in the male. It has, however, a vibrant quality, is full 

 and powerful, and is not an unnatural voice like the male falsetto. 



4. The true head-register. This is the pure tone, without vibrant qual- 

 ity, which seems analogous to the male falsetto. 



Vocal Registers in the Male. According to the division and definitions 

 just given of the vocal registers, in the male voice there is but one register, 

 extending from the lowest note of the bass to the 

 falsetto, and this is the chest-register. In the low 

 notes, the vocal chords vibrate, and the arytenoid 

 cartilages participate in this vibration to a greater 

 or less extent. In the low notes, also, the larynx 

 is open ; that is, the arytenoid cartilages do not 

 touch each other. As the notes are raised in pitch, 

 the arytenoid cartilages are approximated more 

 and more closely, and they touch each other in the 

 highest notes, the vocal chords vibrating alone. 

 It is probable that the degree of approximation 

 of the arytenoid cartilages is different in different singers, and that the part 

 of the musical scale at which they actually touch is not invariable. This 

 appears to be the case in the observations made by Mills. 



What has been called, in this classification, the head-register of the male, 

 is not a full, round voice, but the notes are more or less sotto voce. This 

 peculiar quality of voice does not seem to have been made the subject of 



